Princess Cruises is charting a course towards breathing new life into its brand, as the business deep dives into understanding its core guests and motivations, Global President Gus Antorcha told travelBulletin in an exclusive interview.
“We’ve done a lot of consumer research and I’ve spoken to a lot of guests – I’ve been on a lot of ships to really understand what makes Princess unique and where we have an advantage,” said Antorcha, who joined a year ago.
“Our organisation has gained a greater understanding of our core guest [and] we’re really outlining a path to reinvigorate the brand and that’s not just out of North America – that’s globally.”
Known as ‘voyagers’, Princess’ core customers are 50+ and passionate about cruising and connecting with different cultures, as well as other passengers and crew – it aligns with the findings that came out of its research into Australian visitors who like to travel in an “elevated and elegant” way.
Given this appetite for travel, now that Discovery Princess is homeporting in Australia until April next year, it also makes fly-cruise a great opportunity for local passengers, noted Antorcha, whether they want to explore Northern Europe, Alaska, Japan, Southeast Asia or the Mediterranean, where the cruise line is deployed.
Antorcha also commented on the “remarkable” innovation coming out of the sector more widely, particularly Carnival Cruise Lines (“I mean, they put a rollercoaster on a ship”), as well as Princess’ Royal- and Sphere-Class vessels.
“The market has really become more differentiated,” he said, pointing to how Carnival serves a more contemporary market and Princess is more premium, while Holland America Line offers long, grand journeys.
“Each of us has really evolved the product and our messaging and marketing for different segments,” Antorcha observed.
“I want to really make sure that as we continue to innovate at Princess, we’re doing it with the right lens, make sure we understand our target guests and innovate and improve on experiences that match that segment,” he said.
50 years in Australia
Princess celebrated its 50th anniversary cruising across Australia on the weekend, with the arrival of Discovery Princess into Sydney Harbour last week marking the line’s commitment to the region.
Discovery has since departed Sydney for a 14-day round-trip New Zealand itinerary, calling into Milford Sound, Dunedin, Picton, Tauranga, and Auckland, before returning to Sydney where she will be home ported until 07 Apr.
By the 2026-2027 season, Royal Princess and Grand Princess will also be home porting in Australia.
The following year, Sapphire Princess will home port in Western Australia.
“We’ve been here for 50 years, so in many ways, we’ve grown as Australia has grown,”Antorcha said.
“We have wonderful, loyal guests, who enjoy our product and we have demand from that following, so it makes sense for us to deploy ships here – we have year round capacity, and then we have seasonal capacity,” he said.
Built in 2022, the Royal-Class Discovery Princess is the cruise line’s newest ship to ever be home ported out of Australia, and offers local passengers new capacity, hardware and features, a reflection of the importance of the local market to the cruise line, Antorcha said.
In the last couple of years, a number of cruise lines have left Australia, including Disney Cruise Line, Cunard Line and Virgin Voyages, while local brand P&O Cruises Australia has now been folded into Carnival.
Antorcha conceded Australia has some challenges and that markets have their ups and downs, but he is feeling positive about the growing potential of the Australian market and its importance to Princess.
“We look forward to continuing our strong partnerships with state and federal governments, supporting the cruise industry’s growth and delivering economic benefits to local communities across Australia,” he said.
Antorcha also noted the line’s growing focus on the wider Asia Pacific region, with a third of the Princess fleet to be based in the region by 2026-2027.
“We announced earlier this year that we’ll be deploying a second ship to Japan – Southeast Asia is the counter season to Japan – so Australia is poised to see more of our capacity and growth as the region as a whole becomes more important to us.”
